The Cost of Living in Ireland in 2024

How much does it cost to live in Ireland? Is there anything that is markedly more expensive or noticeably cheaper?

Find out here what the cost of living in Ireland is in 2024. Property Guides’ annual Cost of Living Overseas Index has just revealed that living in Ireland is 15% cheaper than living in the UK.

Overall, Ireland ranked the 6th most affordable country to live, behind Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany and Greece.

How is this calculated?

The Property Guides Cost of Living Overseas Index focuses on all the everyday expenses that homeowners face, from decorating to tech, from cleaning to a visit to the dentist. Property Guides researched the cost of 55 individual items, split across six categories. They included: the home, groceries, healthcare, travel, leisure and other.

In 2024, we compared the cost of living in Ireland with the UK, Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Germany, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Cyprus and Greece.

For more information on the index methodology, please visit our Cost of Living Overseas homepage.

How does the cost of living in Ireland compare*?

Let’s break it down by category…

Groceries / In the supermarket

We compared the same basket of everyday essentials and the occasional product you’d splurge on in the supermarket. Said basket cost £80 in the UK, and 15% less in Ireland, where our basket totalled £68*.

Highlights:

• Ireland supermarkets are typically cheaper than those in Greece, Portugal, Canada and the USA.
• English breakfast tea bags are 24% cheaper in Ireland than in Portugal.
• You can expect to pay around £17 for a bottle of gin in Ireland, Germany and France (Gordon’s equivalent).

*rounded to the nearest pound

Travel

The Property Guides Cost of Living Overseas Index revealed that travel in Ireland can be over 50% more affordable in Ireland than in New Zealand, where train travel isn’t available.

We found that a return journey for an adult to travel off-peak, for a journey equivalent from London to Brighton, would cost just £16.75 in Ireland, vs. £21.60 in the UK and £27.06 in Germany.

Highlights:

• Unleaded fuel is the most expensive in France, Ireland and Italy (correct at time of Index publication).
• Train travel in Ireland is relatively affordable.

Home

We also looked at the prices of items you’d need to build the perfect home when you move to Ireland. This category looked at the cost of a new TV, a pot of paint, an IKEA bookcase, a Ninja air fryer and more.

Highlights:

• We found that items in Ireland for the home cost an average of 10% less than those in the UK.
• The most expensive price for the same TV was £781, but you can expect to pay 17% less in Ireland.
• The average price of a week’s electricity in Ireland is approximately £33.

Leisure

Everything we looked at in the Cost of Living Overseas Index for the Leisure category were things you’d expect to buy when socialising, having fun or spending time with friends. We found it’s cheapest to have fun in Spain, Italy and France, closely followed by Ireland!

Highlights:

• A three-course meal in Ireland is typically more expensive than in other European countries (bar Germany)
• A month’s Netflix subscription is £3 cheaper in Ireland than in the UK, Spain and Canada

Healthcare

You’ll be pleased to hear that the Irish health system is very good. The OECD Better Life Index awarded Ireland a score of 9.2, meaning it has the 5th best healthcare system among the world’s leading powers, while the UK was down in 17th with 7.8. Life expectancy for Irish men is 81 and 85 for women – two years higher than the OECD average of 83 years in the UK.

But how much does healthcare in Ireland cost?

Highlights:

• Our index found that healthcare in Ireland cn be as much as 50% more in Ireland than Germany & Spain
• A basic dental check-up cost the most in the USA and Ireland (£47 and £43)

Other

The final category in the survey looked at the cost of living in Ireland for items you might splurge on every now and again.

How did Ireland fare?

Highlights:

• Ireland ranked 5^th out of 13 countries for this category.
• The total cost for a night’s stay in a mid-range city hotel in Ireland is typically £100 – the same as in Cyprus, but 45% less than in the UK.

For in-depth info on the items we researched, head to our Cost of Living Overseas homepage or email us at [email protected]

*Please bear in mind that this information is based on the prices of items collected in December 2023 on a singular occasion.